There is still one month left before the autumn harvest, and there is not enough coal ore. Okay, these two things are not next to each other.
But on Zhang Xi's side, the autumn harvest was still a month away. He had no urgent business to deal with for the time being, and there was not enough coal ore. Zhang Xi also thought of Zhang Yi, who was thrown into the mine by him and was responsible for organizing the miners to dig. Thinking that it would be fine anyway, I went to walk around the mine and meet Zhang Yi.
When they arrived near the mine, Zhang Xi didn't find Zhang Ni's mansion, but he found a military camp. Huh? ! Military camp? !
Although I know that Zhang Yi uses semi-military management to manage these miners and mining refugees, is the military camp a bit too much? !
At least I should report it to myself, otherwise I would suddenly have thousands more soldiers under my command but not know about it. How could I explain this in front of General Guan? !
Zhang Xi calmly took Deng Ai and a dozen guards and slowly approached the military camp. Then he was stopped by the soldiers guarding the gate.
"This is an important mining area, and outsiders are not allowed to trespass!"
Yes, it was really stopped.
Although the two gatekeepers held wooden sticks in their hands, not weapons, but Chang Ge would have been a soldier, right? !
Moreover, how can a coal mining camp be considered a "important place"? !
For a moment, Zhang Xi didn't know whether to exaggerate that he was "well-managed" or to scold this guy for "raising private soldiers."
Zhang Xi revealed his identity and asked the "soldier" guarding the gate to inform Zhang Yi to come see him.
Soon, Zhang Yi hurried out of the camp and took Zhang Xi into the camp.
Zhang Xi took this opportunity to carefully observe the so-called "mining area" established by Zhang Yi. Good guy, all these miners are in good order and can basically follow the "orders and prohibitions".
It is even said that except for not having armor, he is no different from an ordinary soldier.
There is no need to issue weapons. Even if these miners come with iron hoes, their combat effectiveness is not much weaker than that of the bandits and barbarians.
This is a taboo thing. This Zhang Boqi! ! !
Fortunately, I saw it today. What if it were someone else? No, the second master suddenly asked himself to urge Zhangyi Coal and Iron Ore. Is it really that simple? !
Don't forget that someone has already gone to the Second Master to file a complaint. For Zhang Xi's sake, the Second Master should let Zhang Xi handle this matter, right? !
The more Zhang Xi thinks about it, the more likely it is.
Therefore, after arriving at the camp, Zhang Xi looked at Zhang Yi with a gloomy face and said nothing.
Zhang Ni also felt a little guilty. Zhang Xi probably guessed the reason for Zhang Xi's sudden arrival.
Although the mines these days are still nominally owned by the state, the aristocratic families in Jingzhou do some secretive mining work.
Of course, the aristocratic families don't have the courage to take taboo things like iron ore, but coal mines, felling wood and burning charcoal, these kinds of things can still be mined secretly and openly.
And after Zhang Yi came, no matter what these Jingzhou families thought, I was from Yizhou anyway.
So, after Zhang Yi integrated the miners and trained them a little, he drove away all the "suspicious" people in the coal mine.
Then, people kept coming to trouble him, including but not limited to slaves of local aristocratic families, local county magistrates, ore dealers, etc.
Zhang Yi ignored all these people.
Zhang Yi also had to do this.
He is a Yizhou native, responsible for mining affairs, and has more than 3,000 miners under his command. He is also friendly with a local family, and if this matter spreads, what will Zhang Xi and Guan Yu think? !
Therefore, Zhang Yi can only make people feel at ease if he completely offends these people and makes himself an isolated person in the local area.
But Zhang Yi could ignore those people, but he couldn't ignore Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi was the one who promoted and re-employed him, and he was also the one who asked him to manage these miners. If the things Zhang Ni is doing now cause trouble for Zhang Xi, Zhang Ni would not want to.
So, as soon as he arrived at the Zhongjun tent, Zhang Ni took the initiative and told Zhang Xi everything about his work this year.
The more Zhang Xi listened, the calmer his expression became. What Zhang Yi did was right. If he hadn't done this, Guan Yu probably wouldn't have given him face.
But Zhang Yi did something wrong. He should have told himself about this kind of thing in advance, otherwise even if he wanted to protect Zhang Yi, he would not be able to do anything without knowing it.
Zhang Xi estimates that those aristocratic families have already complained to Guan Yu. Guan Yu may have even sent people to investigate. By asking Zhang Xi to come here today, he probably wants Zhang Xi to give him a justifiable explanation. Account.
What could Zhang Xi do? Apart from telling Zhang Yi to increase mining efforts and supply coal mines, he said nothing else.
Back in Jiangling City, Zhang Xi went to Guan Yu's mansion and reported that he had recruited three thousand new warriors from the countryside and had no place to place them for the time being, so he arranged for them to go to the coal mines.
Guan Yu narrowed his eyes and looked at Zhang Xi. He was silent for a long time, and then told Zhang Xi that it was not Sanqian Xiangyong, but the miners at Wuqian Iron Mine, and he asked Zhang Yi to take charge of them.
Ask this guy to collect coal and iron ores. This guy only thinks about coal mines, right? !
Can't this guy even notice this little thought? !
In the past half year or so, there have been more and more coal ores, but less and less iron ore. Could it be that this guy thought that he was going to hold Zhang Yi accountable? !
That was to ask Zhang Yi to stop caring about the coal mine and organize an iron ore camp for me. These half-soldier, half-worker miners can be a good source of soldiers when necessary.
Regarding the coal ore matter, there are still people who dare to complain to him, but if Zhang Ni is also in charge of the iron ore, Guan Yu will have to see who blind fool dares to make irresponsible remarks.
You even dare to worry about iron ore. Are you planning to rebel? !
By the way, the second master said, this Zhang Yi, after he has established the iron mine camp, he should not put it in the local area. This kind of talent should be placed in the army to reflect his value.
It just so happened that the second master was also short of people, especially generals who could take charge of their own affairs. Finally, he found a good young man, and the second master didn't want Zhang Xi to waste his value.
As for Zhang Yi's successor, Guan Yu left it up to Zhang Xi.
Zhang Xi doesn't object to Guan Yu's appointment, but Zhang Yi is now a commander of a county. You can send people there, but you can't give them the title of school captain and lead one or two thousand people to fool him.
Guan Yu glared and waved his hand. Zhang Xi was driven out of his mansion by Guan Yu again.
Well, second master. Forget it.
Anyway, after saying such things, the second master must not treat Zhang Yi badly.
After Zhang Xi returned to his mansion, he immediately asked Deng Ai to write a letter and ordered Zhang Ni to take charge of the two mines and set up an iron ore mine camp as soon as possible.
As for Zhang Yi's successor, Deng Ai is eager to try, and he somewhat wants to recommend himself.
Don't forget, Deng Ai's ambition is to be in the army. He has a lot of interest in the art of war and strategy. Naturally, he is also very interested in leading troops in battle.
In terms of military strategy, Zhang Xidong taught some with a hammer and a stick, and Xu Shu also helped Deng Ai find some systematic military books for Deng Ai to study. Now Deng Ai feels that he is not good enough to practice.
However, over the years, Deng Ai has been helping Zhang Xi handle state and county documents, and he has become more and more like a civil official.
This made Deng Ai quite disappointed.
It's not that I don't want to deal with the paperwork, it's mainly because I don't have this ambition.
But the master's order is the master's order after all, and Deng Ai will not disobey it. But if there is a chance to practice, Deng Ai still wants to try it.
So, Deng Ai begged Zhang Xi to let him go with Zhang Ni. He could be Zhang Ni's deputy and help him set up a mining camp.
On the one hand, you can receive practical training, and on the other hand, you can also learn the actual application of military tactics from Zhang Yi.
Because of Zhang Xi's advice, Deng Ai was somewhat tainted with his master's "cautiousness". Although he consciously read military books, in order not to become Zhao Kuo, Deng Ai still carefully sought various practical opportunities and did not take advantage of them. It means asking to lead troops in battle.
But, Zhang Xi felt something was wrong.
Deng Ai in history was someone who could even think of such an extremely risky strategy as smuggling into Yinping, so he relied on his opponents Liu Chan and Zhuge Zhan to achieve the extraordinary feat of destroying the country.
As long as the person guarding Mianzhu was Liu Xun, Deng Ai would suffocate to death in Shu.
Well, that's not the point. The point is - how could Deng Ai, the bold and capable man in history, be so cautious now that he even had to ask for instructions from himself when setting up a rural Yongyi battalion? !
Hmm. Could it be my fault? !
Looking back and thinking about it, it seems that over the years, due to lack of manpower for various reasons, I have been using Deng Ai as a civil servant. It seems that it has indeed delayed the growth of this boy.
This boy is an adult, and he will get married to the tiger girl of the Guan family next year. Is it possible that the second master has always looked down upon Deng Ai because he is a civil servant? !
It's not impossible. With the second master's character, the civil servants who can get along well with him are probably Ma Liang. With such an old Iraqi qualification, the second master also likes to ignore him.
After much deliberation, Zhang Xi felt that it was better not to let Deng Ai mess with Zhang Yi.
Although Zhang Yi organized a mining camp, in the final analysis, they were still miners, not regular soldiers.
It's not like Deng Ai doesn't have this connection and opportunity. Since he wants to train in the army, let Deng Ai go to Guan Yu's army.
No matter how much he looked down on him, Deng Ai was always Guan Yu's future son-in-law. Guan Yu was taking care of him. Wouldn't Deng Ai be better off than hanging out with Zhang Yi? !
Therefore, Zhang Xi suggested that Deng Ai serve in Guan Yu's army.
But Xiao Deng Ai's expression changed for a long time, and he still refused.
He also said nonsense like "A man should get his fame by himself" without me as a master, you are still working as a farmer in Runan.
But Zhang Xi also understands little Deng Ai.
The second master looked down on little Deng Ai. With little Deng Ai's strong self-esteem, it was obvious that he would not be willing to rely on the second master's blessing to train in the army.
People will say that it is a meritorious service that can only be obtained by people with connections.
In this case, Zhang Xi couldn't force himself, so he wrote another document and a private letter to Zhang Yi, and sent little Deng Ai to stay with Zhang Yi.
After Zhang Yi is transferred to Guan Yu's army, the five thousand miners will be handed over to Xiao Deng Ai to take charge.
This can be regarded as satisfying Xiao Deng Ai's wish.
But there is one thing. Zhang Xi no longer has a master book.
(End of chapter)
